The language of the muses: the dialogue between Roman and Greek sculpture

Abstract

Since the Renaissance, it has been generally accepted that almost all Roman sculptures depicting ideal figures - gods, personifications, and figures from myth - were copies of Greek originals.The Language of the Muses traces the origin of this idea to the academic belief in the mythical perfection of now-lost Greek art and contrasts it with the reality of the imperfection of Roman works. It then goes on to argue that, contrary to the accepted wisdom of the last three hundred years, Roman sculpture had a style very much its own, and rather than being mere mechanical copies they were more along the lines of creative adaptations.

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